


A thousand eyes and one

by FedonCiadale



Series: A thousand eyes and one [1]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 09:27:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20095027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FedonCiadale/pseuds/FedonCiadale
Summary: Sansa is driven by a suspicion she has, but who can she trust? If it is true, things look really grim.





	A thousand eyes and one

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pandizzy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandizzy/gifts).

> Some of you might find this sort of creepy. What if Bran is really not Bran any longer?  
I got this idea, when I thought about the finale of season 8 and what it might mean for the books. And how Bran might be ambitious enough to actually want the throne.  
My word count says, this has 1,000 words, so it just meets the conditions of the drabble challenge

The lords were in a “wedding mood” as Sansa called it to herself. They had left her alone for a few years, but now, that she had turned twenty-five at least once a month someone would bring it up, the marriage that was supposed to save the Stark line. _If they only knew. _Her burden felt heavy on her shoulders.

“My lords, are you in any way dissatisfied with my rule?”

“Of course, not. We are just worried about the future and Northern freedom.”

_ The future. Don’t you realise, that we are not free._

“Well, and I am worried about what a husband would do,” she said loudly. Let them think, that she was loath to marry.

_Haven’t you realised by now, that any would-be suitor dies?_ She silently prayed that they would not name anyone.

“My Lady, there must be a man who is worthy of your love.”

_I have a love. And I pray no one ever knows._

Sansa scoffed. “I am not talking about love, I am talking about the fact that any husband might try to usurp my position.”

She stood. “We’ve discussed everything for today. Maester Wolkan, please come with me. I want to discuss medicines for the coming winter.”

\---

Sansa led the way to her solar. She had emptied the room of everything, but her desk and a chair, as well as the basket for the cat.

She stroked the cat. “Have you done your duty and caught mice?”

The cat purred. “Now you have to leave, I am sorry.”

She opened the door and the cat obediently left.

Sansa looked out of the windows and she saw a raven. The bird looked at her and cawed, black eyes blinking.

When Maester Wolkan came in, Sansa half-closed the shutters, so that her desk would be hidden from the eyes of the raven. She hoped it didn’t look too suspicious.

“It is getting a bit chilly”, she said loudly, very loudly.

“We have to prepare for a cold winter,” Maester Wolkan said, equally loud. “The citadel sent a warning with the white raven. Even if winters do not last years any longer, this one will still be hard.”

They continued in the same vein, exchanging ideas about preparations that were routine. While they talked Wolkan showed her the book he had brought. He had routine in this, having spotted the raven just like she had.

_‘The children of the forest, the First men and their abilities by Septon Barth’, _Sansa read. Wolkan chatted on about their medicine supplies and opened the book at the chapter that interested them the most.

_‘Warging’_ was the chapter that should hold the information they needed. Wolkan pointed to a passage.

_‘It seems that warging has its limits’_, Sansa read. _‘Even the most able of wargs can’t enter animals smaller than mice.’_

Sansa wrote on the paper on her desk. _‘That is a relief.’, _while Wolkan went on about their supplies for sage and thyme for the usual winter colds, rather longwinded, but that was the purpose.

He pointed to another book he had brought. _‘A thousand eyes and one. The rise and fall of Bloodraven.’_ There was no author. _Probably too dangerous. _She patted Wolkan on the shoulder to express her gratitude that he had acquired the book.

She came around the desk after another round of talking supplies, careful to get out of the line of vision of the raven. She dared not check, but when Wolkan nodded, she took the book, shuddering and reluctantly. She lifted her over-skirt unceremoniously and put the book in the pocket she had at the side of her underskirt, where it would lay smooth against her leg. She was practiced with this by now.

Still talking quite loudly about herbs, Sansa took the little paper and threw it into the fire.

\---

Sansa managed to read the book, which chilled her to the bones. Laying out the accounts for the maintenance of the castle, making a mess of her desk, spreading paper all over it, and what was probably the most important part, cursing loudly, so that her cat that sat at her feet looking at her with an understanding, no cat should have, would hear her.

When the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch arrived for his usual visit at the beginning of winter to negotiate supplies, Sansa greeted her cousin with the distant politeness they had perfected over the years. Their talk at the table strictly dealt with the trading arrangements and Sansa hard bargaining showed that their relationship was all about business. Sansa was careful to mention her annoyance with her cousin’s yearly visits at least once a week well within earshot of several people. Word of her feelings would return to King’s Landing via Tyrion’s spies. She was sure, that Wolkan was none of them, though. She would long be dead if he was.

\---

They waited until it was a new moon, before they met in an empty chamber. Jon made sure to leave Ghost with Tormund. Sansa had brought blankets and they ducked under them. Their lovemaking was desperate, if quiet by necessity. Later they whispered into each other’s ears.

“What about our suspicions? Is it true?”

“A thousand eyes and one.” Sansa shuddered involuntarily. “He wanted to be king once, now he is. He set you and Daenerys against each other.”

“What is his plan now?”

“Too many of my would-be suitors have died. He wants to be the only one with First men abilities, I think. I am not sure, if Bran is even there any longer, maybe deep down.”

She clung to Jon and held him, crying silently. She knew that tomorrow she would look for more answers, tomorrow she would try to counter the man who had consumed her brother. Tomorrow she would be the queen again. Tonight, she was just Sansa, sharing her burden with the man who was her husband in all but name.


End file.
